LPL History

Chapter 146 Drawing Fate Lots Before the Asura Platform, Internal Strife in the Quarterfinals

When it comes to understanding another person, the accounts of outsiders are often more credible.

Just a few sentences.

At this moment, Zhou Li's character was vividly and three-dimensionally presented in the minds of Li Xianjing and Zhao Enjing.

A young, handsome, wealthy, ambitious, and exceptionally talented tycoon from China.

This kind of persona is so dominant that it's a game-changer not only in the esports world, but it would be the perfect example of a high-quality male in any field.

Quan Yongjun clearly noticed that the eyes of the two women were getting brighter and brighter.

It even made him somewhat reluctant to continue talking about what happened next.

"After acquiring EDG, Zhou Li actually played very few games. He only played a few games during the LPL Spring Split. It is worth mentioning that EDG won every game that Zhou Li played."

Seeing that the two girls' mouths were agape in an "O" shape, Quan Yongjun quickly said:

"But that might also be because he hasn't played many games. If he had been playing all the time, he might have already lost."

Upon hearing Jeon Yong-joon's words, Lee Hyun-kyung immediately retorted:

"But he did win the game today."

Zhao Enjing nodded.

"Yes, they played exceptionally well in today's match."

Compared to the evaluations in South Korea, Zhou Li's evaluation in China is quite nuanced.

Because of their overwhelming victory over the Korean team, EDG gained some fans in this match.

However, this small number of fans seems insignificant compared to EDG's massive anti-fan base.

Comments such as "EDG's four-protect-one strategy is just playing games with the boss, treating the World Championship like a joke" quickly spread on the internet.

It also attracted many netizens to participate in the discussion.

In reality, how many people actually sit in front of their computers to watch the games?
At this point, most people had started to pay attention to the competition, but they did so mainly through media reports or online discussions.

Besides, it's only a group stage match.

Although many netizens who watched the game said that EDG did indeed use a four-protect-one strategy, Zhou Li, as the one in the team, did perform much better than expected.

However, the haters naturally have their own set of arguments.

The hotel where EDG is resting.

Lu Benwei was cursing loudly.

"Wow! This Joker is fucking disgusting. I want to smash his head into a geoduck."

Former WE head coach Joker published a lengthy post on Weibo.

I watched the EDG vs. SKT match today, and many people were quite surprised by EDG's victory. But actually, after seeing Zhou Li play, the result was somewhat expected.

First of all, I'm not a fan of Zhou Li. Seeing Zhou Li on the field made me think SKT might lose, and it's not because I acknowledge Zhou Li's individual skill. Rather, I think EDG is an incredibly cunning team. Bringing Zhou Li, who hasn't played in over half a year, into the game at a time like this suggests SKT didn't do any research on him.

Does it become reasonable for SKT to lose the game when they have no idea what their opponent is like?
Moreover, the strength of Korean teams lies more in their tactical execution, so what is their greatest strength? BO5! Their ample tactical reserves allow them to adjust and adapt to various situations on the field.

To be honest, if today's match between SKT and EDG had been a best-of-three series, I think EDG would have lost. I believe that halfway through the match, SKT probably already had a plan in mind, but they were caught off guard at the start, which sealed their fate and left them with no room to recover.

If they had played one more game, Zhou Li, that arrogant Draven, would probably have been completely thrashed by SKT.

All I can say is that EDG is smart.

With this victory, they stirred up a wave of public opinion in China and gained a new wave of fans who were unaware of the truth.

But how long can a victory gained through such opportunistic means last?
I think EDG can only hope that they won't face SKT again after the group stage.

Otherwise, when the truth comes to light, they may face a huge backlash.

With his title as the former head coach of WE and now a commentator for the LPL, Joker's Weibo post naturally garnered immediate approval and reposts from netizens.

EDG's reputation, which had just begun to improve after defeating SKT, was quickly labeled as opportunistic and attention-seeking.

Having defeated a formidable opponent like SKT, EDG should have been celebrating their victory.

As a result, netizens in China continued to send them such greetings, which explains why Lu Benwei was furious.

Not only Lu Benwei, but even Shen Chao, who is usually good-tempered, had a face full of resentment.

Clearly, this public opinion has had a significant impact on them.

Seeing the somber expressions on everyone's faces, Zhou Li smiled and said:

"I just don't understand, what's the point of you just sitting here sulking?"

Upon hearing Zhou Li's words, Tabe was taken aback, then said with a serious expression:

"Brother Zhou is right. Instead of wallowing in self-pity here, we should study our opponents and train hard to improve ourselves. When we win the championship, whatever we say will be right. History is written by the victors!"

Everyone nodded in agreement, noting that it was rare for Tabe to speak so sensibly.

Only Zhou Li, with a subtle expression, couldn't help but speak up:

"Tabe, it's good to be confident, but can you just win a world championship like that...?"

Tabe scratched his head and asked in confusion:
"Brother Zhou, is that not what you meant?"

Zhou Li pondered for a moment.

"Yeah, what you said is actually true. But there are still more than ten days left in the competition, and I don't want to see everyone continue to be cyberbullied like this. You know, I've always liked to settle scores on the spot."

Lu Benwei was clearly getting excited.

"Brother Zhou, you mean..."

Zhou Li waved his hand dismissively.

"Damn it, 60e is bashing us, and Joker wants to join in! If he wants to curse, then curse! We control the Weibo account, and after he's done cursing, we'll ban and block him. They've spoiled their parents rotten!"

Curly couldn't help but speak up, "Brother Zhou, isn't this a bit inappropriate?"

"What's wrong with that?" Zhou Li glared. "I started this club with my own money, I qualified for the world championships on my own merit, I beat South Korea with my own skill, I didn't eat a single bite of their food, I didn't take a single penny from them. I'm not even running for the Top Ten Outstanding Youth! Curse them! Curse them to death!!"

Lu Benwei has already picked up his phone and started taking action.

This is his innate talent.

"If you have emotions, let them out! Don't bottle them up! It's just 30,000 days, what's the harm in trying?! What will happen then?!"

He glanced at Lu Benwei's phone.

"Ah Wei's insults are spot on. Joker, that dog who loves to ride the coattails of others, let him have his fill of it today!"

Then he looked at Shenchao.

"Shenchao, what are you doing? I told you to swear, and you're trying to reason with these idiots? If he could reason with people, would he be an idiot? Can you even swear? Swear! F*** you! Get it?!"

Zhou Li looked at Mingkai and Curly, who were still hesitating.

Why aren't you two moving? Can't you swear?

Curly hair looked a little awkward.

"Uh, no, I don't think so."

"Come on, start swearing now, let Lu Benwei teach you! Lu Benwei teaches swearing professionally."

In the hotel room, a group of people started frantically typing on their keyboards.

Wow! Brother Zhou!

Lu Benwei sighed with relief, "Brother Zhou, I feel so much better."

Zhou Li patted Lu Benwei on the shoulder and comforted him:

"It's good to feel more comfortable."

Lu Benwei looked at Zhou Li with some confusion.

"Brother Zhou, aren't you going to yell at me?"

You should know that among all the members of EDG, Zhou Li received the most criticism.

Zhou Li smiled.

"I'll pass. I'm a person with a high tolerance for pressure, so I don't need to vent like this."

"No, Brother Zhou," Lu Benwei said anxiously, feeling betrayed. "We've already finished cursing, you can't just abandon us."

Zhou Li's eyes widened.

"What kind of nonsense are you spouting? Is your Brother Zhou that kind of person?"

Lu Benwei couldn't help but mutter to himself:

“Brother Zhou, that’s not fair of you. We’re brothers, we should be on the same page.”

Zhu Kai couldn't help but speak up:

"Don't make things difficult for your brother Zhou. When you guys lost to PE, 60e flooded Weibo with complaints. Your brother Zhou cursed too harshly back then, and his Weibo account was banned, becoming a high-risk account. He was just unbanned recently and posted a Weibo to celebrate his return, but he was reported and banned again."

Lu Benwei was stunned for a moment, then shouted:
"Wow, Brother Zhou! I'm not human!"

Zhou Li sighed, looking dejected.

"Oh, it's nothing. Greatness needs no further explanation."

Watching Zhou Li leave, Lu Benwei's face was resolute.

"If Brother Zhou can't get his revenge, I, Lu Benwei, will definitely do it today!"

five minutes later.

"Brother Zhou! Brother Zhou! I've been banned too, what should I do?!"

"Use Shenchao's insults."
-
After the match against SKT, EDG only has three matches left in the group stage.

They are TSM from the North American region, Lemondogs from the European region, and GamingGear.eu from the wildcard region.

These three teams are relatively weak in terms of overall strength.

Zhou Li was too lazy to go on stage and sent his dog to handle the situation. This greatly disappointed many of Zhou Li's fans.

Yes, Zhou Li now has fans.

There are quite a few.

However, most of their fans are from overseas.

It's worth noting that in that match against SKT, he set two records: the first pentakill of the S3 World Championship and the record for the most kill streaks in a single match from S1 to S3 World Championship.

The replay of the match has become the most-watched match of the S3 World Championship so far.

As many people know, the EDG team has a ruthless killer.

After the group stage matches, EDG and SKT both finished with a record of seven wins and one loss, accumulating seven points each, and advanced from Group A to the quarterfinals.

Meanwhile, in Group B, the Korean team SSO was eliminated as the third-place team in the group, while the two European teams, Fnatic and Gambit Gaming, successfully advanced to the quarterfinals.

With this, the eight teams that will advance to the finals of the S3 World Championship have been determined.

They are--

EDG and OMG teams from the Chinese region.

SKT and Najin from the Korean region.

FNC and GG teams from the European region.

In addition, GMB from the East Asia region and C9 from the North America region.

Once all eight teams were determined, the most exciting part was the draw ceremony.

After all, a good draw can largely determine whether teams that are not very strong can go further.

For most fans in each region, their primary hope is naturally that the two teams from the same region will not meet.

Secondly, they can find an easy opponent to pick on in the quarterfinals.

September 22nd, amidst much anticipation.

Riot Games Studios.

The draw ceremony for the quarterfinals was broadcast live globally.

"We see that two staff members from Riot Games have come onto the stage with several envelopes in their hands. The team representatives will then choose their opponents in the knockout stage from these envelopes!"

"Originally, the four first-seeded teams should have initiated the draw. However, there is a change this year. The two teams from the same region will first conduct a draw to determine who has the right to initiate the quarterfinals draw. Before that, OMG and EDG had already conducted the draw, and in the end, it was EDG that conducted the quarterfinals draw."

"I heard that the first team to draw lots was EDG. Miss, what kind of opponent do you think EDG should choose?"

Hearing what Longhair said, Miss smiled and said:

"I feel the most important thing is that they don't get drawn against OMG. After all, they're both LPL teams! Actually, I kind of hope they get drawn against a Korean team, but I also kind of hope they don't. I hope they can eliminate some strong opponents as early as possible in the knockout stage, but I'm worried about what if they can't beat them... In short, I'm quite conflicted. Maybe it would be better to get a team that's not too strong first to warm up their hands."

After listening to Miss finish speaking, Long Hair started joking.

"That's true. Whether it's EDG or OMG, they're probably the last people who want to face each other. But sometimes, what you fear most is exactly what happens. What if Miss is right..."

"Hey! Don't talk nonsense!"

Longhair laughed heartily:

"No, I was just joking. There are eight teams now, and EDG was the first to be drawn. Actually, this is a good thing because it means they are facing one of the seven teams. The chance of them meeting OMG is only one in seven, so I feel we can relax."

At this moment, the man wearing the uniform with the character "礼" (li, meaning etiquette) had already walked onto the stage.

"We see that EDG has chosen to appoint Zhou Li to conduct the draw!"

Miss said with a smile:

"As both the owner and a player of EDG, it seems quite reasonable for Zhou Li to be in charge of the draw."

Longhair laughed:

"If we draw a strong team, then the other team members won't have to take the blame, right? Haha."

Miss looked at Zhou Li on the live stream screen and said:

"However, I feel that Zhou Li is indeed worthy of being the boss. He has a very calm demeanor. Actually, I have been observing him for a while. You see him standing on the stage, always smiling, and he is not at all shy in front of the camera. I hope his composure will bring him good luck, and also bring good luck to our LPL."

In the live stream room, the chat was already flooded with comments.

[Holy crap, why is it Zhou Chu drawing lots?]

[I might as well just give away a Najin ticket and send myself home.]

[Hoping to get SKT drawn. I've been a 3-year SKT fan; they can easily crush EDG in a best-of-three series.]

For some reason, seeing this "B" gives me a bad feeling.

[Hilarious! If Zhou Chu were to pull out an "OMG" (a powerful idiom), the entertainment value would be off the charts.]

If OMG is criticized, EDG is truly doomed. They'll get flamed even if they lose, and they won't get flamed even if they win.

[I just watched the match and I'm asking because I don't understand something. EDG seems really strong, and they even beat SKT before, so why is everyone supporting OMG?]

[OMG crushed EDG in the qualifiers. If EDG can beat SKT, OMG can definitely beat them too. But if OMG can't beat them, EDG definitely can't either.]

But Zhou Chu wasn't playing at that time, was he?

[It was just playing a game with the boss; surely no one actually thinks Zhou Chu is that skilled?]

So here's the question: if EDG can win even with their owner on the team, why did they lose the first round without him?

[These armchair gamers talk too much; I'm too lazy to talk to these idiots. Anyway, OMG is invincible.]

In the live stream, the chat was still buzzing with arguments.

Zhou Li had already received the first envelope.

He slowly opened the envelope, on which was written a line of words—TOP3.

"The top 3 teams were drawn in the side bracket, and EDG was assigned to the bottom half! Next, we'll draw their opponents."

Zhou Li reached for the second envelope.

In fact, it didn't make much difference to Zhou Li who he drew the opponent from.

So he simply opened the envelope rather casually.

However, Zhou Li couldn't help but laugh when he saw the team listed inside the envelope.

He slowly raised the card in his hand, which had three English letters written on it.

【OMG! 】

"Wow! No way!"

Miss was so excited that her voice cracked.

"How could this happen? The result I least wanted to see has come out! This is too ridiculous..."

"Ah..." Long Hair also spoke up, "It is indeed a bit tragic. But we can think about it differently. This way, at least one team can be guaranteed a spot in the top four."

“It’s so disappointing,” Miss sighed, “but we have no choice but to accept it.”

The live stream room is now filled with question marks.

【? ? ? ? ? 】

[I fuck Zhou Chu!!]

[Damn it, you got one out of seven chances?!]

[Hehehe, traitor EDG!]

[This is purely for disgusting people.]

[It's fine, I don't want to see EDG anyway, let OMG send EDG away quickly.]

Is this scripted? I'm speechless.

What is Zhou Chu laughing at?

At this moment, Xiao San from backstage came out.

After seeing Xiaosan's expression, everyone completely lost their composure.

Xiaosan's eyes, eyebrows, and nose were all twisted into a mess, and her mouth was crooked into three pieces.

It's clear that he's already put on a mask of pain.

Unlike those netizens who only talk big.

They, OMG, know very well that EDG with Zhou Li and EDG without Zhou Li are two completely different teams.

The lottery ceremony continued.

Soon, the matchups for the quarterfinals were determined.

Upper half:
SKT vs. GAB.

C9 vs. FNC.

Lower half:
EDG vs. OMG.

NJS vs. GMB.

The results of the quarterfinals immediately caused an uproar online.

Judging from the matchups, the Korean teams even have a chance to meet in the finals.

In contrast, Chinese teams often have to eliminate one team as early as the quarterfinals.

Although the subsequent lottery had nothing to do with Zhou Li, netizens still blamed everything on Zhou Li.

In response, netizens expressed their opinions as follows:

[It has been decided to revoke the title of WE captain Ruofeng. From now on, there will only be one Twisted Fate master in the Chinese server, and that is Zhou Li.]

(End of this chapter)